FORT WORTH — New Texas Tech coach Chris Walker left nothing to chance before his team's first road game of the season Saturday night.

Tech's meetings had to be just right, as was the team's movie the night before the game. The Red Raiders even arrived a night earlier than normal to ensure maximum focus.

“I'm very proud of the way the guys came together, right from the start of the trip,” Walker said. “There was maximum focus ... maybe even more so than we have all year.”

Suitably inspired, the Red Raiders jumped on TCU early and cruised to a 62-53 victory in the conference opener for both teams.

Although Tech hadn't played in a road game before Saturday night, sophomore forward Jordan Tolbert almost considered it a home game of sorts. The former Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal standout joked that he had about 200 family members at Saturday's game.

“It feels good to play here,” said Tolbert, who produced 11 points and nine rebounds in a strong all-around game.

It helped Tech (8-4, 1-0 Big 12) come at TCU in waves. Jaye Crockett scored a team-high 13 points off the bench and freshman Dusty Hannah chipped in with 12 points — all on 3-pointers.

“We had eight players who had never played in a Big 12 game before,” Walker said. “That's got to be a concern. Some of the things I wanted to do, I can't do and we limited things a little bit. But for us, they played as hard and together as they have all year.”

Cold-shooting TCU started the second half by missing 18 of its first 22 shots as it fell into a huge hole. Hannah's 3-pointer gave Tech its largest lead at 57-41 with 5:20 left.

TCU stormed back on a 12-1 run to pull within 58-53 on a tip-in by Connell Crossland with 39 seconds left. But the rally came too late as Daylen Robinson and Crockett hit two foul shots apiece to ice the victory.

It snapped Tech's 10-game conference road losing streak. It also enabled Walker to become the first Tech coach to win his conference road opener since Dell Morgan won at New Mexico State on Jan. 17, 1933.

Saturday's game matched teams that have been predicted to battle to stay out of the Big 12 cellar. But TCU coach Trent Johnson said Tech impressed him with its defensive grittiness and ability to make plays when it needed to.

Devonta Abron led TCU (9-5, 0-1) with a game-high 16 points. But TCU's scoring leaders Garlon Green and Kyan Anderson combined to miss 19 of their 22 field-goal attempts in a sputtering effort that led to the defeat.